Boldly Go Solo

The backhand I have today is a gift from the Amherst Tennis Camp. For two summers, I spent a week at the camp, practicing my strokes. For hours each day. The housing is in college dorms, which makes the week inexpensive. And, it enhances the opportunities to get to know fellow campers. You walk back to your rooms at similar times and eat meals together.

Breakfast and lunch are served in dining halls. The head tennis pro, Reiny Maier, usually gathers people up at night to go out to eat in town or to play pool together at a bar somewhere. Reiny’s a hoot, and often the other instructors are too.

Tennis camps like this are great for solo travelers. You can be a beginner or an expert. They’ll have pros to suit you. And, no single supplement because you’re not in a hotel room, the basis for the "per person, double occupancy" curse. A few of them offer singles weeks. (Hm, is that singles versus doubles, or singles versus marrieds?? Be sure to ask…)

Another summer, I signed up for Swarthmore’s tennis program, in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. The tennis lessons were just as fun but the dorms were awful. I see that lodging is no longer in the dorms. Smart move. But the meals are. Those too were grim. I much preferred the food at Amherst. Loads of fresh fruit and healthy choices.

One year I went to the very luxurious Topnotch at Stowe.
(I guess I was really into tennis for a few years.) The resort is
absolutely lovely, but the chances of meeting other people traveling
alone seem slimmer than the more down-to-earth tennis camps. Luxury resorts often feel more daunting to solo travelers.

I was lucky that week and met people to dine with.
But I don’t imagine that would happen every time. Still, if you want to
get away, indulge in spa treatments and live in a royal fashion, the Vermont resort is a treat.

Some other tennis camp that I haven’t been to but am interested in trying: 

Sweet Briar Tennis/Van de Meer Tennis Camp in Sweet Briar, Virginia.

John Newcombe Tennis Ranch in New Braunfels, Texas.

New England Tennis Holidays, North Conway, New Hampshire.

Total Tennis, Saugerties, New York.

All of them are rated by solo travelers at the links provided here. There’s also a rating category for romance. (Who’s doing the rating? The person who fell in love, or the one that didn’t find a match?!)

Photos: By Dingy. From wikimedia commons.